


the burning of the flight suit

by noodlevault



Category: Entry Point (Video Game)
Genre: does is canon jackdad toxic??, idk man everyone's pretty screwed up in ep, tfw no canon backstory so you write it yourself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27539143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlevault/pseuds/noodlevault
Summary: This pilot was different than the others. This pilot would be the first one that Jackdaw would have a human connection with.
Kudos: 10





	the burning of the flight suit

“Planning on deserting, Sofia Pearl?”

The girl in question whips around, going pale as Jack shines his flashlight directly at her face. They face each other, unaccompanied by comrades, isolated in the empty stretch of land that borders Wichita Falls’ Air Force base. 

“Colonel? I- This is a big misunderstanding! I just wanted to-” Sofia fumbles with her words, clutching her drawstring bag close to her chest.  _ Filled to the brim with all of her belongings _ , Jack presumed.

“I’m not your Colonel,” Jack lowers the flashlight, “I’m here to recruit you.”

She looks at him, doing a double-take. They stand in tense silence until Sofia finally speaks up.

“Recruit me? What do you mean by that? And who even are you? How do you know my name?” Sofia’s tone shifts on the more defensive side as she backs up. 

“I’m someone that can give you an opportunity you desperately need.” Jack remarks rather flatly, making no move towards her. 

“You think I’m desperate enough to join whatever the hell business you’re trying to shill?”

“You’re breaking your contract with the Air Force, and you clearly didn’t think this through given that you’re traveling by foot. What did you even plan to do once you got far enough from the base?”

“Hitchhike.” 

“Where?”

Sofia goes silent.

“You could do so much better. That’s why I’m here.” Jack looks down at her. 

“...What are you trying to recruit me for?” She finally asks after a moment of hesitation.

“Take a guess. A bank looking for an accountant wouldn’t approach potential candidates in the middle of the night.” 

“This is illegal, isn’t it?” Sofia murmurs, looking down at the ground.

“I never thought you would care about the legality of things. Your juvenile offense record says otherwise.”

“You dug into that too, huh?” Sofia narrows her eyes.

“You’re a capable pilot. All you have to do is go in with a helicopter and transport some assets from time to time. Seems easy enough, right? It’s all for a bed, board, and a solid cut of the contract pay.”

“...What’s the catch?”

“You’re going to be on the run like the rest of us.”

Sofia looks at him, then looks at the base.

“I know you’re sick of authority, Sofia. The Air Force isn’t a place where you can rise to your full potential. You follow rules every single day, trying your best, but your best isn’t good enough for them.”

She looks even more distraught at his words.

“Your best will be good enough with us.”

Sofia opens her mouth to say something but is cut off by the yelling of a group of people with flashlights coming from the base.

“Make a decision.” Jack states.

“I- I’ll go! I’ll go! Do you have a plan?” She looks between him and the search party that is quickly gaining on them.

“I have a car ready. Keep up.” Jack grabs her wrist, taking off in the direction of his vehicle with her in tow. He shuts off the flashlight with his free hand, using the darkness to his advantage. 

“I’ll keep up just fine, old man.” Sofia snaps, shaking off his hand as she begins to sprint. Despite her stature, she’s already at Jack’s side and shows no signs of slowing down. The search party disappears behind them as they make it to a parking lot. Jack leads her to an unassuming pickup truck.

“Get in.” Jack climbs into the driver's seat, followed by Sofia who hops in next to him. He starts the car, pulling out and turning onto the road. 

“So uh… where are we going? It’d be great if you uh… didn’t just kidnap me.” Sofia pants next to him, racing with adrenaline. 

“We’ll be making our way to a temporary safe house in Lubbock. And this is no different from hitchhiking, I don’t see why you have a problem.”

“The driver would at least introduce themselves.” Sofia huffs, folding her arms.

“Jackdaw.”

“What?”

“Call me Jackdaw.”

“Ooh- it’s like your codename or something?”

Jack nods wordlessly.

“DO I GET ONE?” She asks excitedly, eyes sparkling, “I’m thinking something like Bolt, or Pistol, or maybe even a bird because you have-”

“You talk as much as the sparrows outside my window when I wake up.” Jack grunts.

“Sparrow! That’s a good idea!” Sofia clasps her hands together.

“That was supposed to be an insult, not a suggestion.” Jack rolls his eyes.

“You don’t have any objections, do you?”

Jack sighs, shaking his head, and Sofia lets out a victorious laugh. They both fall silent, letting the hum of the car’s engine be the only noise for the time being.

“So how long are we going to be driving for?” Sofia finally speaks again.

“About three hours. We should get there at four in the morning.”

“Oh, okay.”

They go silent once more. Sofia curls up in the corner of the passenger seat, using her bag as a pillow. Jack looks over, satisfied with himself. With another pilot recruited, it brought him one step closer to victory.

When Jack finally reaches the safehouse in Lubbock, it’s still dark outside. Sofia is fast asleep in the passenger seat. He gets out, leaving her in the car, and makes his way to the warehouse’s door. An operative of mid-level importance guards the entrance.

“Crow.” Jack raises his hand to greet him.

“How’d the recruitment go, sir?” The operative dips his head slightly.

“It didn’t take long to convince her.” Jack shrugs.

“Teens who turn to the military as a last resort are always easy pickings, sir. I believe you mentioned that she had a criminal record?” Crow raises an eyebrow, and Jack nods.

“She has quite the record- her charges are joyriding, vandalism, petty theft, and underage drinking. This is all through sixteen and seventeen years old.”

“Christ, where were her parents?”

“From the records I looked at, her dad died in late 2011.”

“That’s rough.” Crow frowns.

“Either way, I have a new pilot. That’s all that matters.”

Jack turns around at the noise of a car door opening up, watching Sofia climb out of the passenger's side.

“Speak of the devil.” Crow remarks. 

“Don’t leave me in the car like that!” She whines, jogging up to them with her bag slung over her shoulder.

“Sparrow, I left you there because you’re going to need all the sleep you can get.”

She huffs in response.

“Drop the attitude and meet your new mentor, Crow.” Jack introduces them to each other, “He’ll be familiarizing you on how the organization works.”

“Hello.” Crow shakes her hand firmly, “I heard you’re a pilot as well?”

“Yeah! You’re a pilot too?” Sofia gasps, eyes wide. Crow nods, smiling.

“This organization has quite a few of them, believe me. In fact, there’s one other that’s here right now- her name’s Nighthawk. I’ll introduce you to her once she’s awake. I think you’ll be good friends.”

“That’s great! I can’t wait to meet her.” Sofia grins.

“Anyways, I’ll go ahead and explain how everything works. You don’t have to worry about us, sir.” Crow reassures Jack, turning back to Sofia.

“You could say that Crow is... taking me under his wing.” She snorts.

“That’s not funny.” Jack stares at her.

“I think it is. I bet you haven’t cracked a smile in your whole life, anyway.”

“It’s true, I’ve never seen him smile.” Crow whispers to Sofia.

“I heard that, Crow.”

“You should go ahead and sleep, sir. You’ve been traveling the whole night.” He smiles, and Jack can’t ignore how exhausted he is.

“Fine. Watch the base. Wake me up when there’s trouble.” Jack heads inside the warehouse, laying down on an empty cot. He was looking forward to seeing how Sofia's addition to the organization would play out.

The days that followed were rather mellow. Sofia needed little combat training since she was fresh out of the Air Force, so she spent most of her time socializing with the other operatives. She mostly hung around Crow and Nighthawk, but this didn’t stop her from bothering Jack from time to time. 

Jack returns from a supply run one day, heading inside the warehouse. He stops in his tracks as he walks in.

“...Welcome back, sir.” Crow laughs sheepishly. He’s sitting in the middle of the room with Nighthawk by his side, holding a container of turquoise hair dye in one hand. Nighthawk has Sofia kneeling in front of her, combing dye through her hair.

“Sparrow, tilt your head a little further.” Nighthawk continues to comb through parted sections of Sofia’s turquoise-tinted hair. They haven’t finished yet- a couple of areas are still light brown.

“Hi, Jackdaw!” Sofia grins, turning her head to see him, but is instantly scolded by Nighthawk.

“Stop moving, you’re gonna get dye all over the place. Crow, add some more dye around here.” Nighthawk separates another layer of her hair, letting Crow paint some more dye on.=

“...Glad you guys are enjoying yourselves.” Jack doesn’t question it, dropping off his bags by the door. 

“Hey, it helps hide her identity.” Crow remarks, painting some more dye into Sofia’s roots, “We’ll be cutting some of her hair too.”

“You sure you trust them with that?” Jack raises an eyebrow.

“Yep!” Sofia grins.

“I’ll leave you guys to it then.” Jack turns away. He makes his way to a couch in the corner of the room, getting out a stack of paperwork to work on for the time being. He couldn’t lie, Sofia was definitely helping with the morale. Maybe, someday, she would grow on him.

After a total of two weeks since Jack brought Sofia to their safehouse in Lubbock, he was woken up one morning by the incessant shaking of his shoulder.

“What’s happening?” Jack shoots up, reaching for his pistol underneath the cot.

“Woah Woah Woah! No guns! Relax!” Sofia yelps, scrambling back. Jack blinks at her.

“Then why’d you wake me up?” 

“It’s Christmas, silly.” 

“Oh.” Jack rubs his eye, stifling a yawn, “Is anyone else awake?”

“Crow and Nighthawk are outside with a couple of other operatives. Also, I made coffee!” Sofia grins, “It’s downstairs. Do you want some?”

Jack nods, following her to the pot of coffee sitting on a pop-up stove. She gets out two paper cups, pouring a healthy amount in each. Jack lets out a sigh, sitting down on the couch and holding the cup between two hands. Sofia sits down next to him, taking a sip of her coffee. 

“So, do you guys not celebrate Christmas here or something?” Sofia asks, “When I suggested we throw a Christmas party everyone looked at me like I was insane.”

“We usually don’t have the time or morale. It’s just another day in the organization. You’re the one who decided to make it special.”

“Oh.” 

“Thank you.” Jack murmurs.

“For what?” Sofia tilts her head.

“For raising the morale around here. I’ve never seen Crow or Nighthawk act like that before. They’re pretty fond of you, you know.”

“You’ve never seen them smile?”

“No. Not often.”

“Well, thank you for the compliments, but I can’t truly be the mood-raiser around here if I haven’t gotten you to smile yet.” Sofia pokes his shoulder, snickering. Jack huffs, taking a sip of his coffee.

They sit in silence, finishing their drinks. 

“I’m gonna go join everyone else outside.” Sofia gets up, tossing her paper cup in the garbage. 

“Enjoy it while it lasts, Sparrow. Tell the others we’ll be moving out in a couple of days.”

“What- really? I was starting to like it here...”

“Unfortunate. We’ll be going back to the main headquarters in Phoenix.”

“Alright, I’ll let them know.”

“Thanks.”

Their conversation ends, and Sofia leaves Jack alone in the safehouse that his crew would soon depart from. There was something different about this pilot in particular, but Jack couldn’t put his emotions into words until almost five months later.

The sun had just come out, and Jack was making his way through the base in Phoenix. Nighthawk and Crow were set to leave for an operation later that day. To ensure that they were prepared, Jack went to check on them in their quarters. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Jack stares as he stands in the doorway. Sofia is taking sips from a can of beer that Nighthawk clearly snuck in the last supply run. Crow passes out two slices of white bread with Nutella on top to Sofia and Nighthawk, making another one for himself.

“It’s my 19th birthday!” Sofia exclaims, raising the can in a toast motion, “We’re having some cake right now.” 

“Of course, we couldn’t actually get our hands on a birthday cake. The stuff we found in the pantry had to do.” Nighthawk shrugs, taking a bite out of her slice of bread. 

“We’ve also been playing truth or dare.” Crow chuckles, “Want to join us?”

“How young do I look like to you?”

“Not a day over 42.” Nighthawk snorts.

“You two have a mission to run today. You don’t have time to play party games meant for young kids. Get up.” 

“Killjoy.” Sofia mutters into the can of beer as Crow and Nighthawk get up off the floor, grabbing their gear.

“I’ll be coordinating you two for this.” Jack leaves their quarters with them, and Sofia tags along.

“Can I watch you coordinate?” Sofia asks, sipping her drink.

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“I’ll be quiet.”

“If you make a single noise, I’ll kick you out.” Jack lets her follow him into the comms room.

“Bye Crow! Bye Nighthawk! See you soon!” Sofia waves to them as they leave. They both wave back, smiling at her.

  
  


That morning was the last time Sofia saw them.

  
  


Jack shuts off the comms. Their pained, dying screams are no longer audible. He rips off his headset. It clatters onto the desk.

“Jackdaw…?” Sofia looks on in horror.

He doesn’t answer her.

“Jackdaw, tell me that they’re okay. Tell me that it wasn’t them screaming.”

His nails dig into his arm.

“Jackdaw…” Sofia’s voice cracks, “Did they-”

He finally manages a nod, looking away.

Sofia puts two hands firmly over her mouth, eyes spilling over with tears. She trembles in her seat, stifled sobs wracking her entire body. 

“I don’t care if you cry. Put your hands down, kid. You’ll stop breathing at that rate.” Jack murmurs, still facing away. Sofia slowly lowers her hands, choking out sobs. 

Jack was no stranger to bottling up his feelings, but when he saw the pilot break down, it gouged his heart out in a special weak spot he didn’t even know he had. He doesn’t know what compels him to open his arms and hold the girl close; to tell her that everything is going to be okay. Was she simply just the daughter Jack was always meant to have, but couldn’t? His view of her is questioned when she finally opens her mouth again.

“T-Truth or dare, Jackdaw.” Sofia murmurs, breaths still sporadic. 

“What?”

“Just- Just a-” She hiccups, “answer.”

“...Truth.” He looks down at her, confused by her odd choice of words.

“Do you still-” She hiccups again between her words, “just see me as an asset? Are you c-comforting me just so I c-can get back on the field?” Her tone is bitter and full of doubt as more tears roll down her face.

The question stings. He was almost always cold to Sofia. He manipulated her unfulfilling childhood to get her to join his organization, leading her to a downward spiral of increasingly worse choices. But that was just how the game was played.

“I act c-carefree, but I’m terrified, Jackdaw.” She hiccups, whimpering, “I’m t-terrified.”

“I should see you as merely an asset. It’s a risk to be attached to someone in this business, Sparrow.” 

Sofia looks up in shock, the color draining from her face as more tears roll down her cheeks.

“But I’ve made that exact mistake again.”

Sofia slumps against his shoulder, letting out another choked sob.

“You mean a lot to me, kiddo. A lot more than you’d think.” Jack carefully runs his fingers through her turquoise hair as she continues to cry in his arms.

She’d have to learn how to dye it herself now. 


End file.
